Course Information
HMGT 1101 / Section D500
Professor John Richard Akana
jakana@citytech.cuny.eduMeta
New York Times-
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
- Anne Huang on 36 Hours Submission
- Liqing gong on 36 Hours Submission
- Odalys.Ariza58 on Chapter 1, pp 3-29 (due 2/10)
- AquillePierre on Chapters 4&5 (due 4/13)
- Diana Zaro on Chapters 4&5 (due 4/13)
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Hello my name is Ana, during my time in High School I was intrigued by multiple occupations and I wasnāt sure of what I wanted weather it was going into the medical field or doing something completely different such as arts and science. After High school my journey began so I decided to focus on radiology, I had always been interested in the medical field because it has to do with helping people and making them feel better. During my time in that major I was faced with unpleasant experiences and after trying and failing time and time again to get in that major, I was stuck and lost because I didnāt know what to do next. Soon after I decided why not baking! Itās something I love to do and itās been one of my passions for years so for the past year I have been determined to get into culinary. While I finally came to the conclusion on what I wanted to do I turned my focus on baking. Although this is a brand new field of study for me, I have had practice making cake from scratch, designing cakes with and without fondant, cupcakes, etc. for my close friends and family. All of this made me just want to further my studies and be able to perfect my art with time, learn different styles and craft. By nature I am a very friendly person and someone who is easy to communicate with. Also, I am very organized which I try to incorporate in my baking. I consider myself to be creative as I come from a creative family of painters, craftsman, carpenter, interior designers and architectures. Apart from baking I love all types of music and sports such as tennis; I used to play in my high school team.
My name is Shaina and I am a transfer student. At first I wanted to focus on Business Marketing but I felt Hospitality Management would be more suitable for me. I have a background in fashion, business, and modeling. My career goals are to work in an exceptional hotel or even something pertaining to traveling. I love experiencing different cultures, traditions and food. I also love cooking and felt Hospitality would be a great major to focus on; because of my love for food.
My personal strengths are organization, quick learning, writing and not afraid of criticism. My personal interests are shopping, reading, blogging, and working on my business. I am very excited to learn more about the Hospitality industry.
Hello all!
My name is Andrea and this is my second semester at CUNY City Tech as a fellow Hospitality Management Major. I have a bachelorās degree in Chinese Studies with a double minor in Education and English. I started graduate school to get a Masters in education, but after working as a teacherās assistant and as an after school counselor these last few years, I realized I didnāt have that spark that makes you a great teacher. So, I dropped out of graduate school and I quit my job. 30 grand in the hole with loans and I found myself unemployed without a goal or a dream. No one was happy about this rash decision, but I felt that following their advice had led me to something I didnāt want in the first place.
I babysat for months to make some money, which gave me time to reflect on my strengths and weaknesses; Iām fairly patient, I like organizing, learning about New York history, I am fluent in Spanish and know basic Chinese, I like helping others and sharing knowledge. I also started to remember my childhood living in a hotel the first 17 years of my life. My father had become Head Engineer once the owners wanted to make it less of a residential facility and more into a classy extended stay. I saw the hotel transform from a 70ās mirror plated everything style into a red wood, marble like dĆ©cor. We had a concierge separate from the front desk located by the elevators where he was in charge of mail, luggage storage and booking tours; he was the guy with the pamphlets, the one who knew the facility like the back of his hand, the one who outlined your journey on the map to your Broadway theater show. He was a chill guy, probably in his late 20s at the time. I thought he was so cool having his own desk, helping tourists out, and always having a smile as if he was having fun.
Living in the epicenter of New York City wasnāt always easy, but I learned about so many places and how to get from point A to point B. When I was old enough to start redirecting lost tourists, I began to enjoy it. Now that I am a barista I do more than make drinks; I help give directions to our customers as well. Afterwards I feel good about it; knowing that I have this ability to help someone lost and send them back on track so that they could enjoy their stay in the city that I love. I put two and two together, I can become a concierge! So now I find myself here in Hospitality Management 1101 with the goal of having a career in hotel management.
Hi my name is Anne Huang. I am a current transfer student from York College so this is first semester here at New York City College of Technology. I went to New Exploration into Science Technology and Math for high school. I was on the girlsā basketball team throughout high school. We won 1st place for our division during my junior year and for senior year I was given the chance to be captain! I love playing sports, especially basketball and handball. I really believe that being part of an extracurricular activities enhance my professional attributes because it made me become more sociable. I was able to open up to a lot of people. Moreover, when I was at York College, I was considering majoring in Social Work because I love interacting with people and since I work as a receptionist as my part time job, I am always expose to interaction with people and helping them with their needs. However, as I was learning the fundamental of social work for about a year, it can get really emotional. People need to be mentally prepare in this field and I felt as I was not mentally strong enough to become a social worker. I do enjoy talking and helping people but unfortunately this was not for me. Since social work did not work for me, I went on and done a lot of research on what other things are out there. Then I came across hospitality management. This literally seems to be a turning point in my life because I felt like I finally found a career that Iām comfortable with. Especially since I already have experience as a front desk and leadership skills, I really to work for a high end hotel and eventually become a manager. Then if I gain enough knowledge and skill, I hope maybe one day I can open my own business. Not sure whether it is a hotel or not, but Iām excited for what hospitality has in store for me!
Before I got in to hospitality management, I was studying electrical engineering at different CUNY school. I realized that I did not have talent of reading electronic circuits and computer codes and all the works I needed to do became stress. I declared undecided major, then I started to question to myself what do I enjoy studying and working. While I was taking break from school, I worked full time at an ice cream store called ‘Carvel’. Taking care of customers, serving them nice looking sundaes, and making ice cream cakes were very good experience and wanted me to learn more and professional about what I did for work and found hospitality management.
I take confidence seriously. Short-term achievements throughout study will help me maintain my confidence and keep me motivated as I study in this major. I heard about study in broad programs that department of hospitality management offers to students. Among the programs being offered, I want to get into ‘Paris Exchange Program’. Beside from study in broad, I have not set many goals yet, since I am at beginning of the curriculum. I look forward to build positive experiences throughout my degree in hospitality management.
As I mentioned earlier, I work at Carvel. Although I worked part time most of the years, I have been working there for 8 years. If opportunities come, I want to experience various internships in pastry and desert areas. My ultimate goal is to own my business later.
To define my personal strengths, I brainstormed based on list of words. Words that I associated as my strengths were: bilingual, communicative, responsible, passionate, and positive thinking. It is best to flash back my one and only work experience in order to explain about my personal strength. I got the job because I was able to speak Korean and English. The business was owned by a Korean man. Once, my co-workers were all my friend. We started to figure out schedules by our own. Since I got the job before any of my friends, I communicated with our boss to be bridge between employer and employees. When we became college students, my friends had to quit. I took responsibility to make fit and flexible schedule for everyone. Response to the endeavor, I grabbed chance to learn more about work. Whenever certain inventories are low, I put orders. For custom cake orders, I often make or take part of the cake. Now, I want to learn professional to make my selection of career wider.
When I was making my mind on major after getting out from engineering, I was between hospitality management and photography. Even after I made decision, I learn, and take photos for hobby. I can extend it to photography in hospitality management. Photography plays major part in food industry advertisements. Pictures of landmarks can help clients to choose a tour package. People can upload pictures of beautiful food plating on social media which will advertise the restaurant.
My name is Nexmaury Gil, and I chose Hospitality Management to create a new career for my self and i am very interested and intrigued with the opportunities it would have for me. First of the is my second year in City Tech because I switch curriculum from an Architectural major. The reason I was pursuing a career in architecture goes back to high school. Which I was in an engineering school and there where great professors which really inspired me to sketch and have fun in the field of architecture honestly. I love to draw and I was really good at it, so when choosing colleges I decided to come here to City Tech to continue my studies as an architect student. During my time I soon began to realize architecture was more than just drawing well and was more technological and it really brought my hopes to continue my career as an architect down really, but i gave it another shot at the semester but that passion that many students had was not there for me and doing what i really enjoy (drawing) was taking over by computers and architecture while it was fun I did not see myself happy in the future based on current experience.
This is when I found out about Hospitality Management while looking for other majors, I was instantly was intrigued about the program and the classes. Hospitality in general goes with my personality but the program afford skills and classes that I would want for later in life. Cooking, Accounting, certification, skills that and positivity that can take me places is what I believe drove me to this program and so far I am really enjoying my major. I see myself in this program and I will stick to it and achieve professionalism. Me being someone that wants to get A’s on all classes and works hard to do so I believe i can improve and have a wonderful career. One great thing is the culinary part of the program which I am most interested in as i love food and would love make it as well. I hope to start with getting job experience like a retail store and keep going form there, I am bilingual since I am Dominican so that also helps me out to be fluent in both languages, to become a great manager in a future hotel/restaurant.
Greetings everyone!
My name is Aquille Pierre this semester will mark my fourth semester at City tech as a hospitality management student. I started college in 2014 for the fall semester, i was both excited and nervous but also curious for what was to come. To my own surprise i was doing an excellent job however math was giving me trouble. Prior to starting college i took the CUNY assessment test and failed miserably so remedial math was definite. After failing the class the first time i took time off and decided to take it awhile from now. Later on during the 2015 semester i failed again despite my effort and studying however i was granted entry into the express course for the winter 2016 semester. The class was 2 weeks long and was held Monday-Friday 6:00pm-9:00pm. In order to pass you have to achieve a score of at least 17 questions out of 25 completely correct. And in the end i scored a 19 out of 25 and that opened the door and enabled me to take courses within my major so I’m extremely excited to finally be here. In this moment.
Prior to graduating high school i received a phone call from a military recruiter. It was a lengthy phone call but i was told to come in to continue the conversation whenever i was free. Upon arrival we shook hands and the sergeant explained many things to me such as
the opportunity to travel, money for college, leadership skills, and the experience as a whole. I decided to opt in and get down and dirty with the best of them and that summer in July i went for training. It was the most humbling experience, i met so many amazing people pushed myself and other go into lots of trouble and learned from my mistakes but above all i had fun. After training i went to my unit and drilled as an army reserve soldier until i got the chance to hop on active duty and i took it immediately. After a year or so i knew it wasn’t for me and went back to the army reserve but came back with awards, achievements and even more money to help with my schooling. Today i can gladly say i have a career in the military and hope to continue to achieve great things within the army.
As far as what i hope to achieve, or even do as a hospitality student i can say that i have no idea at the moment. At first i wanted to be a chef so thats what got my attention looking at the major as a whole but looking at all the different classes i can expand and do so much more. Someone once told me “when something is offered its not about being greedy, being greedy is good because lots of people are out there starving for success”. Hearing that showed me that i can learn something in every category of hospitality and expand and show what I’ve learned for both employment opportunities and personal betterment.
My dream job is to be a private chef or perhaps a chef in a michelin starred restaurant, you gotta dream big right. Also to get married to a beautiful woman and make her fat through all the amazing things i learn in both pastry and culinary arts.
Thank You
Hello Everyone!
My name is Adnan Ahmed and Iām from Queens, born and raised, parents from Bangladesh. Growing up I was very isolated and kept to myself, until finally high school when I had to start taking long commutes to go to school in Manhattan 1st Ave. Graduated from High School of Health Professions and Human Services I learned the good and the bad. Being my first true taste of freedom, freshmen year wasnāt the best year academic wise but it was still fun in a way. After that is when I cleaned my mess up and really focused to become an āA+ā student. I met several great people and I socialize very easily. A lot of people did come and go but some stood around even some teachers at the school. Starting college I also started my first job as a sales associate at GNC, General Nutrition Company. Starting a much more difficult set of class work with a new job I couldnāt juggle the time well and I did poorly first semester same as high school, but still persevered, determined to get good grades. After learning everything there is to learn at GNC, after a year of constant training I finally got my Nutrition Consultant degree. Now I was officially able to give professional advice on nutrition which plays a part in my major in college. After a year in college I decided I wanted to change my path of Nursing to Hospitality Management just because of my people skills and my experience on dealing with people and their needs. I can communicate with others very well, I am a hard worker, and I can multitask greatly. My end goal is to become the manager of a high end hotel in New York City. Best way to do it is to start from the bottom and work your way to the top.
Hi Group and Prof. Akana,
Iām Meisa Richards and I am a transfer student. I chose Hospitality Management, because I have always been fascinated with this industry, but have been afraid to pursue it. As I child I used to watch all the cooking shows on PBS like Ming and Julia and would often say to myself, one day thatās going to be me.
Sometimes we let the fear of the unknown cloud our vision and prevent us from growing.
I had friends who graduated from the Hospitality program and they explained to me that the program was difficult, so that really prevented me from applying sooner. I donāt want anyone to think that Iām afraid of hard work, because Iām not, but the way they explained it to me was that this program was so intense that you drown. What I learned from these comments is that you should never allow someone elseās experience cloud your own experiences.
My eventual goal with this degree is to work in a banquet hall as a manager. I have always loved big events. Huge flower arrangements, massive amounts of food, timed coordination of the waiters and staff, music and laughter everywhere. I can see it in my mind even as I write this.
So here I am jumping headfirst into the pool that I have been admiring for many years. I have no doubt that Iām going to make it.
Hello, my name is Odalys in case if some of you guys forgot we introduced last week in our first class meeting. I was born in Brooklyn, New York. I have three sisters and we were all born at the Brooklyn Hospital. Recently got the best news from my mom that she is pregnant again after seventeen years. I am hoping that my mom is having a boy. I graduated high school on June 2015 at Life Academy High School for Film & Music. I had the chance to graduate early but I decided to stay to graduate on time not early. I am looking forward to achieving a bachelor in hospitality management. After achieving that I would like to open up a restaurant based in Mexican food.
Hello Everyone,
My name is Shuhong Wu. I was born and raised in China. I immigrated to the United Stated when I got my bachelor degree in International economy and trade in China in 2012.
I really love food and cooking and I realized that Hospitality Management was the real major I wanted to study. So I began my study in City Tech because my friends recommended the program here.
Maybe you can not imagine how many difficulties during my study. It takes me more times than you to review lessons and finish homework since my mother language is not English. As the saying goes, āInterest is the best teacherā. I hope we will have fun during our study and everybody can locate targets.
In the future, I hope I can have my own cake boutique one day.
Hello everybody, my name is Jesus Rodriguez, Iām 24 years old and I was born and raised in Queens, New York. At the age of 19 I decided to join the Army in order to pay for the high prices of culinary school and ended up being stationed on the beautiful island of Oahu (which is Hawaiāi, Honolulu county). Spending three and a half years on the other side of the world has taught me to not be paranoid with airplanes anymore and it has shown me an amazing culture that I fell in love with. But before I went to Hawaiāi, I graduated from John Adams High School on Ozone Park, Queens at the age of 17 and decided to take an entire year off from school to just ease my mind in to the college life. I spent one year studying Business Management at BMCC before finally realizing that wasnāt what I wanted to do. So I weighed all of my options and decided that the Army would help me out pay for culinary school (although I believe City Tech provides a more in depth degree in the business of hospitality). While being stationed in Hawaiāi I learned how to be patient and how to keep a smile on even if youāre in the right, I also learned the true values of hard work, pretty much everything we need to do in order to be successful in the business of hospitality. I like to observe my surroundings before taking any action, I am more goal oriented then I was 5 years ago, I am more sure now of what I want to become. Iāve always had a fascination in Culinary Arts, ever since I was 7 years old and my mom taught me how to cook a simple dish from her country Dominican Republic called Mangu (mashed green plantains) with a couple of fried eggs and salami, ever since then I fell in love with cooking and knowing the culture and history behind the food. I hope to one day own a very successful restaurant in this beautiful city and own a couple of more in a few different states, I ultimately wish to own more than four restaurants but all of my dreams and expectations starts here at City Tech and I know I can do it, I just have to put the work in to show that it will be all worth it.
Carlos Amaro
Hello, I am Carlos Amaro. I am a young adult attempting to find my place in the of world productive self-sufficient individuals. This noble pursuit has led me to choose hospitality management as my new line of academic focus. For the sake of transparency I will admit that I have not had the most illustrious record of success and achievement with respect to my tertiary education. I floundered for a few years in a directionless malaise of liberal arts courses, and despite me graduating from high school at the age of seventeen I now stand at the ripe old age of twenty-one without a degree. After giving some significant thought to how tedious and ultimately harmful my lackadaisical mediocrity was for my future, I decided that I should invest my energy into major that had potential for future employability. I was looking for a major that would confer highly transferable skills. Unsurprisingly, these stipulations led me into the obvious direction of hospitality management.
In all honesty I principally considered hospitality management because the reasonably priced college I am currently attending has a fairly good reputation with respect to that field of study. Initially, I had the mindset that if Iām not going to endure the arduous process of transferring schools then I might as well try what is probably the most worthwhile- that also doesnāt require too much math- program that my school has to offer. Even though my previously mentioned motivations might sound rather utilitarian, I must also say that I partially considered the major due to my deep fascination with geography, global current affairs and all things indicative of refinement and luxury. To me the hospitality industry provided a unique nexus where all these interest regularly collide. Well before even considering the major I was always interested in reading about innovations in molecular gastronomy or the spending habits of Brazilian tourist for example. I didnāt know until fairly recently that there was a whole industry that could allow me to indulge in all those varied interest that I have. Ultimately, It was this realization along with the general practicality of it all that made me decide to change my major and vigorously pursue the field of hospitality.
In addition, the hospitality industry seems promising because genuinely feel that it can lead to an opportune and meaningful career. I find this to be very important. I personally do not have much employment experience. My first foray into the world of working adults was in a little known company called Green Mountain Energy. Green Mountain Energy is a renewable energy supplier founded in Vermont but headquartered in Texas, and they claim to produce all their energy from wind and/or solar energy. I worked for them for about eight months starting last November. I was but a mere lowly commission based salesman. I was tasked with the odious duty of stopping people in or in front of specified retail locations and determining whether they were eligible to sign up, and if so, persuading them to sign up. To a lot of my colleagues this was fulfilling work. They got make money on their own time and have the satisfaction of knowing they were helping save the environment. While i did agree it was a noble cause, I was just absolutely not cut out for it. I barely made any money and only worked sparingly. It was honestly a terrible experience. All I can remember is the frigid weather I had to suffer through. Ultimately, I was let go after about eight months due to low performance. Thatās why, given all its potential, I feel the hospitality industry is a route to a fulfilling job where Iāll never have to worry about inclement weather causing me financial distress. At this point I am not sure where Iāll end up. I have authentic interest in both front of house and heart of house careers, and as of now I am enthusiastically exploring my options.
Hello, my name is Liqing, I graduated from Sheepshead Bay High school about a years. My reading is not well, so I need to spend more time in English. I was went to ESL class in the past year. This is my third semester in city tech. After my reading certification, I have no idea what major I am going to take. Once, my friends tell me that Hospitality management is very interesting. They have cooking and baking class. Since I love to eat dessert, definitely I chose Hospitality management as my major. I like to eat, but I can’t cook. I hope that I can be a good cooking in the end. This major is not just only about cooking and baking, also, there are more skills about serivces. I work at coffee store, and I enjoy to serve with people. When people feels happy about my help, I would full of energy whold day. But I can’t deal with mean people. I was bored in South of China, so i can speak fluent in mandarine and contonese. I think language is my only strength. My goals is to learn more skills about services and how to slove problem in the special situation.
Hello,
My name is Allison Nidetch, I am 21 and I live in Astoria. This is my first semester at City Tech. I came here for the Hospitality Management program. This is my third college I have attended, so I am very thrilled to be in a program where I am happy and excited to finish. I’ve worked retail my whole life and have always been a people person. When I was in high school, my parents tried pushing me into this major before sending me off to college and I ignored them. Four years later I realized they were right.
What I like about this type of work is the gratification you are able to see from your customers. Whether it is a smile because you were friendly, or even more expressive with emotions and words, your work really does pay off. I have to give credit to those in the hospitality industry, because it can be a thankless job at times. But when you are praised for your hard work it’s absolutely worth it.
I just finished working as an Assistant Manager at a restaurant in LIC. The whole experience has pushed me further into the love I have for this industry. You get addicted to the 60 hour work week, and the mix of individuals surrounding you. I unfortunately left due to committing my time to finishing my degree, but my goal is to open up a bar one day. I am very very excited to see where this major can take me.
Also, I am very nervous for any cooking/baking classes because I have burnt pasta more than once.
Hello,
My name is Jessica Liu. This is my second semester in City Tech. I graduated high school four years ago, but unfortunately I suffered with some health problems and had few surgeries done. Until last fall I finally got much better than ever, I decided to continue in earning the degree. I was a student majored in communication design. I remembered on the first day walking into the class, I had no idea what was everyone talking about. For the whole semester I been staying up for most of the nights watching tutorials, working on projects, learn how to draw on my own. But when I see everyone around knows how to draw and most of them have taken art class in high school, I realized probably the major I picked just isnāt for me. Then, I thought about hospitality management.
A good friend of mine encourage me to go for HM. Since I was a store manager & trainer of a worldwide milk tea store for over 3 years. 5 yearsā total experience. I used to write reports every week for our store on what we need to improve, how we deliver fast & great service. Also I took care of Product managing, train new employees. Research on stores in the industry in order to learn from others, so we can make bigger profits.
I think hospitality management is something similar to what I was doing before. I am super interested in Baking and cooking. My first goal is obviously the bachelor degree! Then I wish I can work for Disney or open up my own bakery.
My name is Derron Whyte. I am from Brooklyn, New York. I am of Jamaican decent. Iām friendly most of the time and I like to see others associated with me happy. Loyalty is something that is very important to me. I am currently in my second year at City Tech. I am a civil engineering major but I am strongly considering a switch to something in culinary.
Entering into college, I wasnāt sure what I wanted to do with my life as I felt pressured into going straight to college after high school but Iāve grown to realize that itās not engineering. Cooking is something I have always enjoyed and would be happy to pursue a career within that field. Happiness is the ultimate goal, for me, which I would like to achieve when my life ends. I have no professional experience in culinary, but mainly the older women in my family taught. I later branched out to making things on my own.